Month: September 2016

Cheshire Moon

Much have I listened to our friends Lizzie and Eric perform… also known as Cheshire Moon. They are close friends of ours and I’ve been listening to their music for a long, long time. My favorite of their songs is Wanderers, which is on the CD Crowes & Consequences. I received Crowes & Consequences in my stocking one Christmas, and have loved it ever since. I’m not sure what my second favorite is, but if you like YouTube, Cheshire Moon has a good selection of their songs here.Cheshire Moon

This particular occasion we were at a convention friend’s house, and, no surprise, I was the only kid there. My godmother, Marinda (who seems to be getting mentioned more and more), was also there. Mom had pre-ordered me a wonderful pair of handmade fingerless gloves (in TARDIS blue), which I wore for the majority of the show.

The next day we went to the Greater Chicagoland Pagan Pride Festival, where Cheshire Moon would be later in the day performing. Unfortunately, we already had a commitment for that afternoon, but since it was a gaming group, I didn’t feel bad about it. We ran into Eric, but couldn’t find Lizzie. I also wore my fingerless gloves to the Pagan Pride Festival, since they were cozy.

The first time I saw them perform live was at Capricon, a local convention. Possibly their geekiest song is Masters of Library Science (“And about that plush Cthulhu, well I can’t help it he’s so fluffy!”). *grins* Anyway, I love their work and would recommend them to any geek I know.

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Hope you like Renaissance!

Every year I go to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, which is a great place to meet cool people and get tons of awesome stuff! To add on to that, there are plenty of interesting acts, such as one of the ones we watch annually, Dirk & Guido: The Swordsmen. Their motto runs along the lines of “We are bold and stupid men!”.

Bristol Renaissance FaireIt was tremendously funny. We were also introduced to more musicians, The Dread Crew of Oddwood. We saw Adam Crack’s Firewhip show, displayed on the right.

There’s a lot of role-playing and lots of cool things to do. Every year we get sassafras and I go on the pirate ship. They have tubs you can smell. The best one this year was mermaid food, and the worst one was starfish armpit (probably because they have 5). All in all, I enjoyed myself very much.

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Patch your Work

Patchwork is an awesome, intense strategy game we got for my dad for his birthday. You are trying to patch a quilt. There’s a circle around the board made of strange looking pieces. There’s a marker in the circle. This comes in later.Patchwork

The person who has most recently used a needle goes first. After that, the person in back on the board goes next. You have 2 choices. Jump to the place directly in front of your opponent, taking 1 button per space you jumped over, or use your buttons to buy a piece. The pieces you can browse from are the 3 pieces directly clockwise of the marker(told you it was important!). You buy it for the stated amount of buttons and move the stated amount of spaces. When you buy the piece, move the marker to where the piece you are purchasing is in the circle. Take the piece and place it on your personal board.

If, using either method, you pass a button or tile space, there are special rules. If you pass a button, count how many button symbols you have on your personal quilt board and collect that many buttons from the bank. If you pass a tile space, assuming your opponent hasn’t already done so, take the special tile. Special tiles are the only 1×1 pieces in the game. The first person to get a solid, 7×7 section receives the 7×7 achievement, which counts in scoring. The game ends when someone reaches the end of the board. For scoring, you count your buttons, then subtract 2 for every empty space on your board. I won a game with my dad, 9 to -10! That’s saying something, as my dad is ridiculously good at logic games.

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World of Warships

World of Warships is an intricate strategy game. You choose which ship you want to play, then click ‘Battle’. You wait in queue until enough people in your rank range also click ‘Battle’, then you get drafted into a randomized battlefield. That’s when the fun begins.World of Warships

You have multiple bars for what speed you want to go at. You turn by pressing A and D, move faster by pressing W, and slower by passing S. You can choose a spot on the map to autopilot to using M, and Shift will let you scroll in. 1 and 2 are different shell types and 3 is torpedoes, if you have them. R is repair, which you use if something is immobilized or a crew member is injured. T is your special skill, if the ship has one. You left click to shoot.

This, like other wargaming games, is a fast-paced, quick decision simulation game. I like the fact that though you shoot stuff, there’s no gore.

This game is fun, interactive, and strategic. It is also historical as the ships are modeled off of genuine ships. I play it with my father, uncle, and older cousin.

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